


the more things change

by breeisonfire



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Canon Compliant, Chompy is there too, Mona Lisa is mentioned, Spoilers for S4E14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 11:32:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6656188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Readjusting to being home after six months in space is gonna take a little time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the more things change

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know I just wanted to write these dorks being...dorks. So here ya go.
> 
>  
> 
> [(Tumblr)](http://drdone.tumblr.com)

After three hours of tossing and turning, it was obvious to Leo that, despite how utterly _exhausted_ he was, he was not going to actually get sleep. It was too quiet, his bed too soft, and he still hadn’t managed to shake the feeling that they could still lose everything.

He didn’t think that would go away for a while.

He gave up all pretenses of trying to sleep and sat up, looking around his room. He’d missed his room. He’d missed a _lot_ of things, but on the ship there hadn’t been much space (heh, _space_ ), and they were almost always in each other’s business. It wasn’t easy to get much alone time.

Now, though, the silence was louder than his racing mind could take and his thoughts were headed in a direction he didn’t want to go. Abruptly he stood up and walked out of his room, heading to the pit. Maybe some TV would take his mind off of it.

Probably not. But he could always hope.

He turned on the TV, keeping the volume low. A rerun of _Space Heroes_ was on, and Leo settled back to watch it. It’d been a long time since he’d been able to watch his favorite show. Maybe letting Captain Ryan be the hero for a while would help him relax.

A few minutes later, he was reaching for the remote, feeling slightly sick. He couldn’t do it. Everything was reminding him of their time in space, of Lord Dregg and Armaggon, the Triceraton arena, and most recently, of Fugitoid’s sacrifice.

Leo couldn’t exactly remember his last words to the little humanoid robot, but he knew they hadn’t been friendly. They’d been suspicious, and though he knew that had been Fugitoid’s plan, it didn’t stop the guilt that flooded Leo. He should have _known_ better. They’d worked with him for six months to save Earth, and even if he had created the generator, he’d changed, hadn’t he? He risked his life to save Leo and the others, time and time again. And still, Leo had let his faith in him disappear so quickly, as if it hadn’t mattered in the first place. Leo wasn’t sure he could ever really forgive himself for that.

He changed the channel and found an infomercial for some sort of blender and stared at it, letting the sound wash over him even though he didn’t take in a single word.

He wasn’t sure how long it was before Mikey suddenly dropped down next to him, looking as awake as Leo felt. He nudged Leo’s shoulder.

“Couldn’t sleep, either?” he said.

“No,” Leo sighed. “Too keyed up, I think.”

“Me, too,” Mikey said and nodded toward the kitchen. “I’ve been talking to Ice Cream Kitty. I told her everything that happened. I don’t think she believes all of it.”

Leo snorted. “It _is_ kind of unbelievable.”

“Yeah,” Mikey admitted. He leaned back and drew his knees up to his chest, staring at the ceiling. “It’s so _quiet_. The ship always made noise, you know?”

“I know,” Leo said.

“I couldn’t sleep because of it at first,” Mikey said. “It was too different from home that it kept reminding me what happened. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it.”

“Me, too,” Leo agreed. He didn’t know where Mikey was going with this, but it felt like he had a point. Mikey had grown up a lot during their space adventure in ways Leo wasn’t exactly sure how to handle. He was still _Mikey_ ; he just seemed calmer and more prone to understanding how others were feeling. He still remembered hearing Mikey defend him to the others on the ship when they’d been talking about him. His confidence that Leo would be okay had almost been enough to make up for the rest of them thinking he was losing it.

“I thought it’d be easier to get used to being home again,” Mikey said. “But it’s not going to be, is it?”

“I don’t know,” Leo said, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling, too. “Maybe it will be. Maybe it won’t.”

He heard Mikey huff. “That’s not an answer, dude.”

Leo tried not to laugh. “Sorry, Mikey.”

He heard footsteps, but didn’t bother to move, even when Raph appeared in his eyeline, Chompy on his shoulder. He gave Leo and Mikey a weird look.

“What are you two bozos looking at?”

“The ceiling,” Mikey answered. “What are you looking at?”

Raph gave him a flat look before hopping down into the pit and sitting next to Mikey. Leo lifted his head long enough to see him put Chompy on his lap and follow their lead, looking at the ceiling.

“Is this supposed to be interesting?” he asked.

“You have no imagination, Raph,” Mikey said.

“Mikey, I’ve _seen_ your imagination. I don’t need one.”

It was quiet again for a while, until Raph, in a voice so quiet Leo almost missed it, asked, “Do you think we’ll ever see any of them again? I mean - you know -.”

“He means Mona Lisa,” Donnie’s voice came from the direction of the lab, and Leo tried _really_ hard to be surprised, but wasn’t. He came to the edge of the pit and looked at the three of them, then rolled his eyes and sat down on the other side of Leo, looking at the ceiling, too.

“Well, I mean, she knows what planet we live on, right?” Raph said, and Leo could literally hear him blushing. “So she could come? Maybe?”

“She could,” Mikey said. “The power of _true love_.”

Raph shoved Mikey into Leo. “Shut up. Just because _your_ girlfriend is a time-traveler -”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

“- doesn’t mean the rest of us are so lucky.”

“You two give me a headache,” Leo said. He couldn’t help but grin. It felt so normal, sitting in the lair, listening to Raph and Mikey bicker while Donnie let out an exasperated sigh on his other side.

Raph let out a sudden gasp of horror that made Leo sit up, looking around wildly. He almost expected to see Armaggon in the corner or _something_ , but there was nothing. Raph sat up, too, looking stricken.

“What if she meets my past self?” he demanded. “And he doesn’t remember? I mean, I don’t remember. Wait. We? _Whatever_ , what if she thinks I forgot about her?”

Leo groaned and sat back. “Just send her a message, Lover Boy. Stop worrying about it.”

Raph grumbled something that sounded a lot like “you’re one to talk” and sat back again. Mikey let out a sigh and said, “Think April and Casey are okay?”

“They’re fine, Mikey,” Leo said.

“But they were used to the ship, too, right?”

“April’s with her dad,” Donnie said. “She’s been explaining what’s going on. And I’m sure Casey can take care of himself.”

“Wow, that was almost nice,” Raph said.

“Shut up, Lover Boy.”

“This is so backwards,” Raph complained.

Leo laughed. After a second, Mikey had joined in, and then Donnie, and eventually Raph grudgingly did, too. And then it seemed impossible to stop. They were all laughing, too loud and too high-pitched, like the laughter was more relief than anything. They were too loud, they were going to wake up Splinter, but it didn’t matter.

It took a while before they all calmed down. It got quiet again; Mikey was hiccupping and Raph sniffled, but other than that and the TV _still_ playing that infomercial, it was silent. And it stayed that way long enough that Leo thought that his brothers had fallen asleep, until Donnie suddenly said, “Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you watching an infomercial for a blender? I can just make a blender. A better blender.”

And Leo couldn’t help it. He started laughing again.


End file.
